Akamu was as reassuring as ever, truly a lighthouse in stormy seas. Perhaps Laura was biased on the matter, but people all around him always seemed to listen and take comfort in his presence. Laura could not do much else other than to heed the man’s word and fall for his mesmerism. And, if that was not enough, the dark haired beauty with a voluptuous figure that kings would wage war over certainly had Laura convinced. The blonde’s eyes widened and her lips separated into a stupefied default, just staring at Nia for a few seconds, faintly hearing what was being said. Laura’s dumb expression slowly turned into a blushing smile, which she casually covered with a hand, keeping eye contact with the dark beauty.
The only response that Laura could crack after Nia had delivered her thoughts on the situation was “Wow...” and then catching herself in embarrassment, a few teeth nibbling on her lower lip. “I mean, you’re right, I’ll see to them in a moment. I’m just a bit take aback – I mean, I’ve seen you before, in a video, and you look a bit different in person, but in a good way. So, it’s nice to meet you.” Laura smiled with rosy cheeks at the dark beauty, and then nodded at big bother’s approval of Nia’s suggestions.
Laura was brought back down to earth from her little high when the Dreamer made an appearance in the conversation. The young man was like a holy relic, revered in more than one way by so many, and an illustrious profession to go with it. Laura returned the bow and said “The honor is entirely ours, Dreamer.” The blonde was thoroughly distracted by these two wonderful Regalia that had decided to make themselves known in the masses. Luckily, there were urgent matters to discuss, which was the perfect interruption for Laura’s fangirl intoxication.
The entourage had come to halt by the food stands. The lovely scent of enticing meats and freshly baked bread filled the air and probably made bystanders hungry despite the pressing situation with the meteor shower, which refused to stop. The families that had followed Laura and Akamu found themselves inching closer to the conversation. They were naturally curious and worried at the same time about what was unfolding, and if there were any plans for the security detail to make a statement. Laura paid close attention to the back and forth between Akamu and the security guy, which seemed more like Akamu just telling them what to do. A faint chuckled escaped Laura as Akamu’s voice became stern, covering her smile with her hand so as not to distract the moment. Those little swings out of his typically jolly self were rare, and she had only seen it once before. Laura nestled into the man’s embrace as much as she could, gracing her lips against his cheek again, and listening to his instructions with great attention, even though a faint worry about him lingered in the back of her mind.
As they were about to lead everyone to a safer environment, commotion and screams could be heard coming from the harbor area. The noise was somewhat drowned by the sounds from the food stands and all the people and children moving about, but it would not be difficult for Regalia to notice. “Something’s happening by the beach,” Laura said as she turned around towards the source of the disturbance. Only a few seconds passed before the masses became aware of what was happening, and when some individuals came running in panic from the direction of the harbor, things began to spiral out of control. The families that were close to Laura and the others had different ideas of what was considered ‘safe’. Some of them simply grabbed their kids and began hastily walk away, whereas others clung onto the Regalia that they knew.
Laura was too short to see it herself because of her angle with the harbor and some objects blocking her view, but the threat made itself known nonetheless. Libra was no stranger to monstrous creatures. Throughout all of history, animals had come in contact with Crystals and consumed them for whatever reasons or by accident, and then grown in size and gained terrifying abilities. Nothing screamed ‘monster’ more than a wolf the size of an elephant shooting laser beams of some unknown element out of its eyes. While these occurrences were rare and not as extreme as old folk tales would have you believe, they did happen. However, the hideous things that had swarmed out of the waters of Landow were completely unknown to this world. They were large, crustacean-like mutations, the size of a normal dog, with razor sharp teeth, covered with carapace of varying hues and many limbs. The sight of them moving as thick, rapid liquid in swarms was surely terrifying, even for the likes of elite soldiers and Regalia.
The security detail drew their weapons and opened fire as soon as the things lunged at a group of people closer to the harbor, devouring them in seconds like starving piranha. Laura and the families still around flinched and kept their heads down. All the children were already crying, expressions of pure horror on their faces, clinging to their mothers, some of them holding on to Laura. Everything happened so fast, and total chaos erupted among the people at the festival, as the hostile and seemingly endless swarm approached. The gunfire was deafening, but the creatures seemed to be rather fragile to its destructive force. However, what the monstrosities lacked in endurance, they made up for in numbers and speed. “Change! Change! Change!” Laura’s security detail shouted at her while firing his weapon. There was no time to make it to any shelter or basement. The remaining families would be devoured to the bone within a minute unless the Regalia at the festival acted. The alien force was overwhelming, and the security detail, while able to stand their ground quite well, would succumb to the same fate as the families a minute later.
Laura closed her eyes for a second. The image of Gaia came to her mind instantly, the serene woman of the planet smiling at her. Tiny flowers and grass sprouted through cracks of the concrete at Laura’s feet, and the sweet scent of pine tree filled the air around her. The transformation itself happened within a second. Depending on who the Dominant of a Regalia is, the change might look quite bizarre. Laura grew tall and her skin turned green with roots and leaves replacing her clothes, which were torn and left on the ground. The children around her stood in awe and their attention was on Gaia immediately, feeling a sense of relief and distraction from the danger. Laura hovered a few inches above the ground in her Dominant form, breathing in and out at a meditative pace. She slowly descended and sat on the ground, opening her arms for the children and their families to come closer. A translucent, shimmering barrier of a spherical shape emanated from Laura and engulfed everyone that were close by. Inside this soothing dome, sounds from the outside became almost completely silent, vision of the outside was hazy, the pleasant scent of pine tree was more intense, and Gaia’s residue saturated the people in a calming state of mind.
Gaia cast a glance at Akamu. While she did not verbally express anything, the intent of the emotion in her eyes were clear. There was nothing that was more important for Laura to do at this time, and this location had to be protected in any way possible. She had to sacrifice a lot of her attention and focus to keep these people safe and calm, so any heroic deeds were out of the question for her. The barrier of some greenish tint could to some extent physically block things from entering, but there was no telling what these outlandish insects could do or how powerful they were.
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